CDC: More Adults Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines

Slightly more than 48% of adults aged 18 and older met the 2008 federal physical activity guidelines for aerobic activity in 2011, the highest percentage ever reported, says the early release of estimates for 15 selected health measures by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

As age increased, the percentage of men and women who met the guidelines decreased. In all age categories, women were less likely than men to meet the recommendations. In addition, just over 20% of adults met the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

For 2011, 8.9% of adults aged 18 and older reported having been diagnosed with diabetes, which was not significantly different from the 2010 estimate of 9.2%. The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes increased with age for men and women combined. For the age groups 55-64 and 65 and older, men had a higher prevalence of diagnosed diabetes than women. The age-sex-adjusted prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 12.4% for non-Hispanic black people, 12.0% for Hispanic people, and 7.0% for non-Hispanic white people.

Other measures in the report include lack of health insurance coverage and type of coverage, having a usual place to go for medical care, obtaining needed medical care prevalence of smoking and alcohol consumption, and receipt of vaccinations.

CDC published the measures prior to final data editing and final weighting to provide access to the most recent information from the 2011 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The estimates will be updated as each new quarter of NHIS data becomes available.